“Complete game James” had a career year in 2011 with a 16-12 record, 225K’s, 2.82 ERA, 11 complete games in 249.1 innings pitched. Since 2006, Shields has average 204 IP per season, and in 2011 he saw his largest year to year innings increase in his career with 46 additional frames (excluding his rookie year). So can James possibly get better than his 2011 performance?
Well, the first thing that jumps off the page at me when looking a James’ 2011 campaign was his insanely low BABIP of .258 (career .299). When looking at his low BABIP and his FIP (fielding independent pitching) of 3.42, it suggest that while he pitched well in 2011 that there were plenty of balls that bounced his way. Also, Shields had an incredible strand rate in 2011 of 79.6% (8th best in MLB) compare that to his career mark of 72.78%. Probably what helped that stand rate was that James did change his batted ball profile in 2011 by inducing more ground balls with a GB ratio of 46.2%, a 4.9% increase from 2010....
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